Latte Leftie – 211

Latte Leftie ponders why he’s still appearing in this noble but minor publication rather than The Guardian.

Dear LL: Following The Guardian’s recent stealth launch I was overjoyed that Ciao was no longer standing alone (bar the ailing Fairfax empire) in championing progressive news and views. For the first few days it seemed to be ticking all the boxes – article from David Marr accusing the Catholic Church of being run by pedophiles, check; article from Robert Manne accusing white Australians of being genocidal racists, check; gushing interview with Khaleesi Gillard, check; review of this week’s ABC hagio-doco on Gough Whitlam, check; daily think pieces examining the effects of degrading online porn while referencing Lena Dunham’s zeitgeisty hit Girls, check; and article slagging off McDonalds, check. Indeed, despite being purely a digital publication down under it even manages to acknowledge the traditional lands of Gadigal people of the Eora nation on the home page. But day after day went by without your column, which has long cried out for a wider audience, appearing. How can this possibly be?Leon, Leichhardt

LL replies: When I heard Kath Viner was in town signing up this nation’s premier progressive writers I assumed it was only a matter of time until the phone rang. Inexplicably it didn’t but I am content doing small but important work among Inner Westies. Truth be told, I am appalled by the reactionary drift apparent in The Guardian already. Frankly, I’d be embarrassed to appear in any publication that gives a platform to Helen Razer, a dangerous crypto-conservative who – despite her own periodic Sapphism – has had the temerity to suggest that perhaps the Left should worry about issues other than gay marriage. Surely if Ms Viner is going to reward that sort of heretical nonsense, it can only be a matter of time before she’s luring Albrechtsen across from The Australian.